ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said on Monday that the two Houses of Parliament and provincial assemblies should assert themselves in their constitutional space to bring about positive results for democracy. The Senate chairman made these remarks while talking to a delegation of chairpersons of committees, members and Balochistan Assembly Rahila Hameed Durani. “If we abdicate our space, then other stakeholders will enter the Parliamentary domain as and when they like. The legislature is the weakest of the three links in the trichotomy of power provided for in the Constitution and its mandate is often overstepped by the other two pillars,” he said. While emphasising the importance of linkages between the house of federation and federating units, he said that a proper mechanism for institutional linkages could help in experience sharing at the level of members as well as secretariats where both sides could learn parliamentary practices. He also said that the basic spirit of parliamentary form of government was the committee system which was an extension of the House. The Balochistan Assembly speaker praised the initiatives and guidance of Senate chairman and told the meeting that a Council of Chairpersons Committee had been set up in Balochistan Assembly, too, on the patterns of the Senate committee. She also sought advice in making a procedure of following up on committees’ recommendations. During the interactive session members of the Balochistan Assembly most of whom were chairpersons of committees narrated the issues and their possible solutions being faced by them. Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani and Senate Secretary Amjed Pervez Malik gave details of the initiatives undertaken at Senate to make committees’ work effective, institutionalising linkages with provincial assemblies and other areas. They also extended the proposal of training of members and Secretariat of Balochistan Assembly at Senate to share and learn from experiences. Mian Raza Rabbani also praised the efforts of Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services for arranging the workshop for members of Balochistan Provincial Assembly with emphasis on how committees could be made effective. He said that learning never stopped for Parliamentarians whether it was about politics, handling of issues of public interest or information about Parliamentary procedures. “We can observe and take information from international Parliamentary practices, but the basic principles have to be adopted considering the ground realities of our country and people, which can be best learned through such workshops,” he said. The Senate chairman directed the Senate Secretariat to evolve a mechanism for improving the interaction between chairmen of the committees of the provincial assemblies, particularly Balochistan, and those of the Senate Standing Committees to learn from the experiences and improve the parliamentary practices. The meeting was attended among others by MPAs Nasrullah Khan Zayray, Zmarak Khan, Agha Syed Liaquat Ali, Manzoor Ahmed Khan Kakar, Dr Shama Ishaq Baloch, Dr Rukaiya Saeed Hashmi, William John Barkat, Spozmai Achakzai, Hussan Bano, Arifa Siddique, Anita Irfan, Secretary Senate, ED PIPS and officials from Balochistan Assembly. Published in Daily Times, September 26th 2017.